July 10-11 Naadam Festival in Ulaanbaatar

Another unplanned activity in Mongolia. When we were at Olkohon, we met a man and a lady who treated us with smoked fish (see our blog from Olkhon). They were going to Mongolia on a tour and told us about the Naadam Festival, which is the main Mongolian sports competition of the year. It starts with performances on the main Sukhbaatar square and the official opening ceremony at the Central Stadium, where wrestling, archery and sheep anklebone shooting take place. Another competition - horse racing - is held outside Ulaanbaatar. As we arrived to Mongolia, we had no tickets and didn't really have a clue how to see the festival. Pablo found tickets on expedia for tourists where we paid possibly five times the price, or more. All-in-all, I believe it was well worth it.

We spent July 10 at the Sukhbaatar square watching parades of different regions of Mongolia, archery club and shamans, as well as costume parade and beauty contest. There were numerous gers at the square, where we tasted mare milk (кумыс) and the Mongolian version of cheese. We then went to the Central Stadium to watch archery.

July 11, we went for the opening ceremony at the Central Stadium. The number of people was crazy, as well as tents selling food, mare milk and horse meat. We had our seats in the shadow with a rather decent angle to see the performances, but some clearly did not have tickets and were sitting or standing on the stairs. The performance was great - it described different times of Mongolian history: from nomadic peasants, then powerful Mongol empire, through the Second World War, socialist state and the current times. The show was very colorful. The horse riders really gave an idea how frightening the Mongols were during the Golden Horde. I (Anna) could clearly see how merciless warriors on horses looted villages and killed people then disappearing in the steppes with their booty. It would be sufficient for the Golden Horde to say "boo" and the conquered states would come with precious gifts just to avoid another looting of their villages. After the ceremony, we watched some Mongolian men wrestling before heading off for a walk in the area to see the Winter Palace that turned out quite dilapidated and we decided not to enter there.

In general, it is very interesting how Mongolians preserve their culture. Many spectators were wearing traditional clothing and everyone participating in games were traditionally dressed. We won't see the horse racing but one can't have it all.